Raincoat, overcoat, or the like



April 23, 1935.

s. H. STERN El AL 1,998,825 RAINCOAT, OVERCOAT, OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 20, 1934 Patented Aprc 23, 1935 UNITEDQSTATES PATENT orrics BAINCOAT, OVERCOAT, OR THE LIKE Sidney n. Stern and HarryWallens, Cleveland, Ohio, assignors to The Stern Hat Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation Application February 20, 1934, Serial No. 712,219 3 Claims.. ((31. 2-96) The present invention appertains to the art of garment making and involves primarily a novel form of raincoat wherein the opening and closing of the coat at the front is controlled by that type of fastening commonly known as a zipper or talon fastener.

The application of the zipper or talon type of fastening to a raincoat involves some peculiar problems for the reason that the rubber or rubberized material of a. raincoat is not stretchable or resilient so that in obtaining a form-fitting raincoat, reliance may not be placed on the stretchability of the material used in any way whatsoever.

A special object of the invention therefore is to so design the garment or raincoat of the invention'as to admit of the application thereto or use in connection therewith of the zipper or talon type fastening means so combined that a perfect form-fitting disposition of the coat may be had over the front of the body from the neck of the wearer down to the lower extremity of the coat below the knees of the wearer.

Still another object of the invention has been the production of a raincoat in which the fastening means of the type referred to when employed will be practically substantially invisible, the larger portion of the length thereof. In other words, in the adapting of the fastening means to my raincoat, the upper end of the talon or zipper device may be slightly visible at the edge of one of the coat flaps at the front of thegarment near the neck, and according to the disposition of the said fastening means it is not visible at all from a point substantially below the neck to its lower terminus of attachment to the garment. To effectuate the above result, one of the complemental members of the zipper or zipper type fastening means used is not only curved peculiarly in order to obtain a form-fitting action for the front of the garment in conjunction with the other complemental member, but is disposed so as to incline inwardly, so to speak, from the flap or side which carries the same, thus providing for an extension or overlapping of the flap or side of the garment carrying the first mentioned complemental member in such a way that the said side, or front flap, will lie fiat on the front of the body of the wearer in a neat condition; housing the major portion of the two complemental members of the zipper type fastening means.

In view of the fact that the fastening means is desirably applied to the garment in such a manner as not. to fracture or penetrate the front portions of the front flaps for purposes of watertightness preferably, the invention involves a special mode of mounting the complemental members of the zipper type fastening means upon the garment front naps .as will be more fully pointed out in the following description.

-In the drawing- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a raincoat embodying the invention depicted as when worn.

Figure 2 is a view of the left side flap at the front of the raincoat showing one of the complemental fastenings which is applied to the edge of said flap.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 2 but showing the right side flap at the front of the garment and illustrating the peculiar mounting of the zipper type fastening means gradually inclining away from the edge of the flap as it proceeds downwardly to its lower point of termination.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line iii of Figure 3 and illustrating more fully the method of attachment of the fastening means to the front flap.

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view showing the lower reinforced portion of the fastener carrying facing strip.

The construction of our invention is very simple, and referring to Figure 1, we designate the general raincoat garment as A, including the front flap portion i at the left side of the garment and right side of the view, and the similar front flap portion 2 at the right side of the garment and left side of the view, it' being desirable that the fastening means for the raincoat shall be one which closes the coat at the neck, practically speaking. When fully closed, the particular fastening means used extends all the way up to the collar portion 3.

Figures '2 and 3 depict the inside faces of the so-called front flaps I and 2 which make up the whole front of the coat A. The right front flap 2 of the coat as well as the left flap I are peculiarly cut on a curve extending from the collar portion 3 down to the lower end of the garment. A curved edge 2a for the front flap 2 is thus provided and a curved edge la for the front flap I is similarly provided. The detachable interlocking type fastening means which I avail of is composed of the complemental member 5 on the very: edge 2a. of the front flap 2 and the cooperating complemental member 6 applied to the inner face of the front flap l but gradually inclining inwardly and downwardly from the edge la to its lower terminal point as seen in Figure 3. The purpose of applying the complemental fastening mem bers 5 and 6 to'the front flaps 2 and 1 respectively in the manner above described is to enable the raincoat to fit the form properly in view of the fact that it is made out of material which does not stretch in any way and therefore ro reliance may be placed upon this factor for facilitating the fitting action of the garment, as is done in ordinary cloth coats in which buttons are used for fastening purposes. By reason of the fact that the complemental fastening member 6 extends gradually inwardly from the edge Ia as shown in Figure 3, when the coat is put on the person and the fasteners and 6 interengaged and locked together in the well known manner, the main edge portion Ia of the flap I, from a point a few inches below the neck or collar portion 3 of the coat all the way down to the lower end of the garment, will overlap the edge portion 2a and house and render invisible the fastening means 5 and 6 except at the very top or uppermost portion of the garment near the collar 3 and if desired, the uppermost portion of the fastenings 5 and 6 may be covered by a tab 8 near the collar 3.

Now since it is not desirable to stitch the complemental fastening members 5 and 6 in place on the parts I and 2, I have a special mode of attaching these members 5 and 6 now to be described. As the method of attachment is the same in reference to both of the complemental members 5 and 6, I will refer to the attachment of the member 6 as shown in Figure 4. In this figure I designates the front flap or front portion of the garment which carries the fastening member 6. There is applied to the inner side of this portion of the garment, a facing stripdesignated 9 and this facing strip is preferably made out of the same rubber or rubberized material as the body of the coat A and is the carrier for the fastening member 6 and its attaching parts.

The facing strip 9 is preferably cemented by a I rubber or vulcanizing cement to the inner side of the flap I and is stitched to the flap I at the very edge as shown at I0. Applied to the facing strip 9 before it is secured in place on the flap I of the coat, is an attachment strip also of rubberized material, designated II, stitched at its inner edge as shown at I2 to the facing strip 9 but not stitched through the flap I as is clearly shown by Figure 4. The fastening member 6 is ordinarily supplied secured or attached to a fabric strip I3, and so in carrying out its application to the flap I, this fabric strip is inserted between the outer portion Ila of the attachment strip II and the facing strip 9, being secured in place by stitching I4 which passes through the tape or fabric strip I3 that carries the metal I parts of the fastener 6. In order to give a reinforced construction for the lower end of each of the fastening members 6, we prefer to fold the attachment strip II upwardly as at IIb and insert between the upwardly folded lower end and the body of the strip a reinforcing strip I5. Thus a lower reinforced end for the attachment strip l I is provided and this lower end is secured by a diagonal line of stitching I6 so as to leave the lower extremity of the attachment strip and fastening member applied thereto free for manipulation as a sort of tab I1, the manipulation being required in order to facilitate the application of the slider I8, see Figure 2, in engagement with the guide I9 of Figure 3 in the operation of connecting the fastening member 5 with the fastening member 6 as the zipper or talon type fastening members are closed or locked together 'by the action of raising the slider I8 upwardly toward the neck portion of the garment.

By the foregoing mode of application of the parts 5 and 6 to the parts 2 and I respectively, therefore, the front portions I and 2. not only lie quite flat upon one another when secured together as in Figure 1, but by reason of their curved edge formation they conform to the front outline of the form and properly drape at their lower portions from the figure. Likewise there is no visible attachment of the fastening means 5 and 6 to the respective portions of the garment to which they apply, and the foregoing makes for a very considerable nicety of appearance as will be self-evident.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is

1. In a raincoat of the class described, in combination, a coat body having front flap portions,

the free edge portions of said flap portions being cut on a curve from the neck portion of the garment to the lower terminals of said edge portions, and interlocking type fastening means applied to the front flap portions, and comprising complemental fastening members adapted to be interlocked together as usual, one of said complemental fastening members being secured to one of the flap portions and curved to conform with the side lying at the curved edge of the same from a point adjacent to the neckand extending downwardly to about the waist portion of the garment, and the other complemental fastening member being applied to the other flap portion so that the upper portion of said last mentioned fastening member is adjacent to the curved edge of the latter near the neck or collar portion of the garment and thence gradually is inset from said curved edge to its lower point of termination approximately midway of the collar and lower end of the garment.

2. A raincoat garment of the class described of unstretchable materiaLthe same comprising a coat body having two front flap portions and a collar portion, the free edges of the said front flap portions being cut on a curve from the collar portion and extending down toward the lower terminals thereof, an interlocking type fastener means for fastening the edges of the front flap portion together and comprising complemental members, one of which is applied so as to lie directly at the edge of one member, and the other of which is applied so as to gradually incline inwardly from the edge of the other member at the inner face or side of latter member, together with attachment means for the complemental members of the said fastening means, which attachment means comprises two facing strips, one of which is provided for each of the complemental fastening members, and directly secured to its associated facing strip and wholly carried thereby, said facing strips being secured to the inner faces of the front flap portions of the garment.

3. A raincoat garment such as set forth in claim 2, wherein each complemental fastening member is carried by a fabric strip and wherein an attachment strip is stitched at its opposite edges to one of the facing strips,,one line of stitching for the-attachment strip passing through the latter and through the fabric strip of the fastening member and also through the facing strip, and said facing strip being stitched to the particular front flap portion of the garment which carries it at the free edge of the facing strip and the free edge of the flap portion.

SIDNEY H. STERN. HARRY WALLENS. 

